PC online is not dead, though it's hardly great I can usually get a game when I want to. There are way more people on the weekends--if I load it up on a lazy Saturday or Sunday I can consistently get a variety of opponents. On weeknights it's more touch-and-go, there are times it's like what OP is saying about getting 2 people an hour.
I agree with CookingMama on the getting friends part, I always check if anyone on my list is playing and if no one's on there's a decent chance if I load up DOA5 someone else will join in. I need to build up a bigger group, it definitely beats going in cold and having no idea if there's an opponent out there. I do have to admit if I had no Steam friends playing I might have lost interest by now.
It is even worse since jumping online will always(!) include the risk of losing something (points) for at least one player - understandable that no one likes to do this constantly. We all know that losing something does always lower the fun and motivation no matter how relevant it actually is. Modern games should be well made enough to be always kinda rewarding to the players playing it - just like in the the diablo series for example, where you will always "earn" something when turning it on and jumping into.
I've wondered about that point swing issue...the main problem I have with the current points loss is when there's a large rank difference mixed with also a ton of lag. If I legitimately lose to someone 6 ranks below sure I deserve a big point drop, but if I lose because I stumbled into a game so laggy I can't block anything it feels like a rip-off and I get frustrated.
For that reason I set my rank search settings to near my rank and up, which admittedly isn't so friendly for having a large playerbase. I'd be more wiling to expand that--not to mention use a wider variety of characters--if the consequences were less sharp. I still want to leave my region setting at "Any" because there are plenty of good overseas players who I have acceptable lag with, I'm just talking about the games that play like PowerPoint slides where any kind of defensive play doesn't work.